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Golf Course Architecture / Re: Golf Originals - Tom Doaks Spectacular Golfing Mind

« Last post by Matt Schoolfield on Today at 07:45:46 PM »

"Golf Club Atlas...theres a lot of people talking out of their ass about golf course architecture and they don't really understand anything about why those decisions were made."

It's a very fair criticism... of me in particular 😅

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: EVERY course/club has a great par three option

« Last post by Mark_Fine on Today at 07:41:29 PM »

Craig,
Are there off peak hours when the course is not busy?  The course could still charge a cart fee if carts are allowed and/or a reduced green fee or whatever and see what response they get.  Maybe they start with just nine holes.  Some golfers who don’t want to or have time to spend 4+ hours playing golf might jump at getting in a quick nine holes in an hour or so.  It costs literally nothing to test the concept. 


“Come play Old Works Wednesday afternoons between 12-4 as a nine hole par three course for half price and a free beer!”  Get creative 😊

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: EVERY course/club has a great par three option

« Last post by Craig Sweet on Today at 07:24:56 PM »

I play on a public course (Old Works) and they would never do this because of the revenue they would lose.

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: EVERY course/club has a great par three option

« Last post by Mark_Fine on Today at 07:20:51 PM »

Jim,
I have no idea how common it is.  But why only do it once a year?  Again, every course out there can offer the option of a par three course IF and when they want to.  Maybe more should try the idea and see what response they get.  These days the course could be set up in literally no time including a printed score card (and rating/s). 

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: OT -Scheffler's Dominance

« Last post by David Harshbarger on Today at 07:19:07 PM »

David,

There are 232 major winners in golf history, and less than 20% (46) have won more than 2.  Of that 46, only 2 or 3 have a realistic shot at winning another with the rest either past their prime, long retired, or passed away.

So yea I'd say there isn't much in front of him. However, before Scottie is anointed, he still only has 2. 

Echoes of Jack commenting on Tiger around 2011-12 iirc: it sure looked inevitable that Tiger would pass Jack, but as Jack said, until he does it, he hasn’t done it.

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: Every club should do this!

« Last post by Mark_Fine on Today at 07:17:32 PM »

Nice post David.  You get it 

For those who just can't get over the long walk, please just take a cart until you move to longer tees. 

And as I said earlier (only half joking), the players who hit it 300 yards off the tee don't seem to complain about that long boring walk between golf shots and they have to take that long walk on potentially 14 holes during an 18 hole round.  These players are only playing nine holes so essentially have half that amount of walking with not hitting a golf shot. 

And for goodness sakes, once players get to the longer tees this is NOT just about the "short" game.  We just added a new forward tee on our one hole to reduce the carry over the stream to 75 yards because MANY of the players can't carry the ball any further than that in the air to safely make it over.  When they get to the 75 and 100+ yard tees, many will be hitting driver.

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: Every club should do this!

« Last post by David Harshbarger on Today at 07:10:53 PM »

I would have to think many adults just starting the game would greatly appreciate this model.


Many if not most adult beginners are painfully aware they don’t have the skills to play a full sized course the right way. As adults they are also more likely to value adhering to norms of behavior.


Having the club appreciate this dynamic and take the time to formalize a way of playing that is scaled to newbie skills while situated along with the compentently skilled players would be a godsend. The short course within the long course offers opportunity to play with those who are competent and enjoy the social aspects of the game.


Because the club has endorsed the model, that also places the novice golfer within the norms- they have been given permission to play, they have a challenge scaled to their skills, they can engage in real golf (fun!).


This seems like a great on ramp, particularly at private clubs. There is no shortage of people who have “won at money” who didn’t play or have access to or a cultural connection to golf before, who at some point want to pick it up as one of the trappings of success.


Providing structure for playing for these folks seems like a huge win.

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: EVERY course/club has a great par three option

« Last post by Jim Sherma on Today at 07:08:43 PM »

Is this that uncommon? I know of at least a couple places off the top of my head that have Master's par-3 tournaments each spring. Outside of a Masters themed event I've not seen it done.

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Golf Course Architecture / Golf Originals - Tom Doaks Spectacular Golfing Mind

« Last post by Joe_Tucholski on Today at 07:02:51 PM »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SMB9qT94b4


Definitely appreciate the following line.
"Golf Club Atlas...theres a lot of people talking out of their ass about golf course architecture and they don't really understand anything about why those decisions were made."

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Golf Course Architecture / Re: Every club should do this!

« Last post by Niall C on Today at 06:36:18 PM »

And by the way, there isn’t a golfer on this site that wouldn’t benefit from playing every one of the holes on their home golf course from these shorter distances and seeing what they could shoot.  Frankly their games and scoring ability would improve if they did. 
Nothing like taking your “range” game to the real golf course and seeing how you preform.  Many can’t do it.  I wonder why 

Would indeed be interesting to see how many golfers could shoot level 3’s on each hole of their usual course if they played each hole from 25 yds out. I suspect some might be a wee bit embarrassed. I suspect some might deliberately not even want to try.
 
Atb

David


What you and Mark are basically saying is practice the weak points in your game until you become better at them and by doing that you become a better player. Not sure many would disagree with that but why on earth would you want to walk from green to green and miss out 90 to 95% of the hole in the process just to practice your short game ?


Would it not make a lot more sense to practice your short game on the practice ground, or when the course is quiet drop a few balls round a particular green rather than setting up some imaginary 18 hole par 3 course with very long walks between the holes ?


Niall